Our team and mission

ESA maintains a world-leading Science Programme with missions in heliophysics, planetary science, astrophysics and fundamental physics. Its mission is to 'empower Europe to lead space science'. The Department for Science and Operations hosts the scientists and engineers that oversee the space missions, from study to end of operations. It develops the science operation systems for the missions and operates the missions in space, as well as archiving and curating their data during operations and beyond. Our main objective is to maximise the scientific output of the missions for the benefit of humankind.

The X-ray Multi-Mirror observatory (XMM-Newton) is one of the Science and Operations Department’s major science missions. Launched in December 1999, it is still in excellent health and could be operated for many more years to come. Staff and contractors at ESAC supporting the XMM-Newton Science Operations Centre (SOC) are responsible for all aspects of science operations. These include general support for the scientific community, handling of proposals for observations as submitted by astronomers, long- and short-term planning of observations, dealing with Targets of Opportunity, instrument monitoring and handling, scientific calibration, analysis software development, processing of the data to create standard products, and ensuring data distribution via the archive facilities. 

You are encouraged to visit the ESA website: http://www.esa.int and the XMM-Newton SOC website: https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/xmm-newton

Field(s) of activity/research for the traineeship

The European Science Data Centre at ESAC has rolled out the Datalabs environment (https://datalabs.esa.int/) for access by the scientific community. Within this environment, groups or individual researchers can make tools for research based on the data in the ESA archives available via a web interface.

Making use of this new opportunity to serve the community, the XMM-Newton Science Operations Centre is currently working to make the XMM-Newton Science Analysis software also available via Datalabs, basing these tools on Python. The goal is to provide researchers and students worldwide with applications for easy access to the data and tools available for scientific analysis, lowering barriers and providing a state-of-the-art framework for individual or collaborative efforts.
One of the challenges with the current tools is supporting highly interactive steps, involving graphical tools and data selection, in the analysis of the X-ray data.

As a Young Graduate Trainee, you will be involved in developing attractive, fully interactive solutions for XMM-Newton data analysis within Datalabs. You will explore different technical solutions, learn about graphical methods and tools, adapt existing tools where required and find the best solutions in consultation with experts from XMM-Newton and other users and developers in Datalabs. Your creativity and resourcefulness will be required in order to explore the options and find the best solutions.

During this project you will gain specific expertise in Python, the Datalabs environment, systematic software development in a professional environment, graphical tools for scientific data analysis in general and X ray data analysis, as well as obtaining insights into the operations of scientific satellites and their instruments. You will also benefit from working within an international team of astronomers, instrument specialists and software engineers with diverse cultural and technical backgrounds.

Technical competencies

Behavioural competencies

Result Orientation

Operational Efficiency

Fostering Cooperation

Relationship Management

Continuous Improvement

Forward Thinking

Education

You should have just completed, or be in the final year of your master’ s degree in a suitable scientific or technical discipline.

Additional requirements

You should have good interpersonal and communication skills and should be able to work in a multicultural environment, both independently and as part of a team.

Demonstrated, practical expertise in Python programming and software development in general would be strongly desirable. Knowledge about X-ray astronomy and analysis methods would be an advantage.

The working languages of the Agency are English and French. A good knowledge of one of these is required. Knowledge of another Member State language would be an asset.

During the interview, your motivation and overall professional career goals will also be explored.